By Robert Bradley Jr.
“’We fundamentally have to transform our economy in ways that are unimaginable to people who are over 40,’ Tomlinson said. ‘We have to cooperate, innovate and compromise, and most of all, we have to set aside our pride.’”
“[Tomlinson] said there is an unwillingness of pastors of all faiths to address climate change, knowing that many of their parishioners are involved in or invested in oil and gas.”
The Houston Chronicle business editorialist, Chris Tomlinson, is angry, impatient, and closed-minded when it comes to all things climate. A bona fide climate alarmist, he bullies the oil and gas industry to stop what they are doing. He wants Texans to stop eating meat to help save the planet. And he personally tells me in emails that I am not considered for his columns because I am critical about him (so be it).
Tomlinson sees little-to-no problem with wind and solar wounding the Texas grid, resulting in the Great Texas Blackout of February 2021. Far from being critical of dilute, intermittent, government-enabled wind and solar, he can hardly criticize what has personally made him, in wedlock, a millionaire.
Here is the latest on Tomlinson from an article by Annette Baird in the Texas Catholic Herald, “Now is the Time to Act to Protect the Planet, Advocates Say.” Reading the article below, consider what the Church of Climate is all about–Deep Ecology plus a ego-complex of controlling other people’s lives because they have the truth, the vision, of goodness.
Now is the time to act to protect the planet, advocates say BY ANNETTE BAIRD Herald Correspondent HOUSTON — Scientists and local leaders at recent Archdiocesan conference on environmental issues said the Church must do more to heed the call of Pope Francis’s environmental encyclical “Laudato Si’” to mitigate and prevent the dire consequences to human life stemming from climate change caused by human activity.
Quoting the encyclical, Daniel Cardinal DiNardo opened the event by emphasizing that the call to action and solidarity by all to be responsible for the care of “God’s handiwork is not an optional or secondary aspect of our Christian experience.”
More than 100 people attended the “Faith in Action for Our Common Home” conference held at St. Dominic Center on Oct. 1. The Archdiocese’s first-of-its-kind conference was prompted by growing concern about the state of the environment in light of the pope’s seminal encyclical in which he calls on Catholics and non-Catholics unite to protect “our common home.”
Dr. Philip Sakimoto, director of the Minor in Sustainability at the University of Notre Dame, a keynote speaker, said if we don’t act now, we can expect more death and destruction from extreme weather events and massive migration as people seek to escape increasingly hostile environments.
Taking a theological approach, Sister Linda Gibler, OP, also a keynote speaker, said Catholics have a duty to take care of one another and the environment that God has created. Sister Gibler referred to “integral ecology,” the Church’s approach to tackling today’s ecological crisis by everyone working together to protect the planet. “When we care for creation, we are caring for the poor,” Sister Gibler said, noting that all are dependent for life on God’s gift of the natural world.
Sakimoto, who has attended Vatican events on the environment, also painted a dire picture with glaciers and polar ice caps melting at an accelerated rate, rising ocean temperatures and extreme weather across the globe, including the droughts and wildfires in the southern and western U.S. and recent Hurricanes Ian and Fiona. “We can expect more and more of these extreme weather catastrophes every year,” Sakimoto said. He added the cost, in terms of deaths, clean up, food shortages and migration will only increase, saying there could be an estimated 200 million asylum seekers by 2050.
The goal of the conference, organizers said, was to spotlight the Church’s moral obligation to make caring for the environment a priority. Panelists of everyday activists in Galveston-Houston called on Church leaders to make climate change a top issue, whether it’s in the homilies or supporting parishioners who want to take action and galvanize others into action in their parishes and personal lives. Living simply, conscientiously, and with concern for the impacts of our consumption and behavior on our neighbors and the natural world are core to leading a Christian way of life, they said.
Roger Ingersoll, a Catholic climate educator, said the biggest obstacles to addressing climate change are apathy and a lack of urgency. He said climate change that impacts all life should be the top priority of the U.S. bishops’ conference. One speaker, Sister Ricca Dimalibot, CCVI, spoke of the health threats to fetal life by air pollution, which affects the developing brains and lungs of unborn babies. “Climate change is a critical life issue,” Ingersoll said. “The Church needs to … be consistent about life.”
Deanna Ennis, director of construction and preventative maintenance for the Archdiocese, said she would like to see more urgency for combatting climate change from more priests and Church leaders. “We don’t hear about these issues in the pews — that’s pretty stunning,” Ennis said. “We have to learn, to educate, to act. We have to be willing to change.”
Enter Tomlinson
Houston Chronicle business columnist Chris Tomlinson said many of the obstacles to combatting climate change, especially in Texas, boil down to economics. He said there is an unwillingness of pastors of all faiths to address climate change, knowing that many of their parishioners are involved in or invested in oil and gas.
“We fundamentally have to transform our economy in ways that are unimaginable to people who are over 40,” Tomlinson said. “We have to cooperate, innovate and compromise, and most of all, we have to set aside our pride.”
———————–
While the situation is dire, Sister Gibler said they believe the window of opportunity is still open. “We have time to do something, but the time is now,” Sister Gibler said.
Sakimoto called on Catholic organizations across the globe to make a commitment to fight climate change by coming up with their own plan and putting it into action. He advocated for reducing greenhouse gas emissions, changing the means of energy production, switching to a plant-based diet, and buying less “stuff.”
Ennis said the Archdiocese is concentrating on energy efficiency in parishes and pointed out that all electric contracts now draw power from renewable sources. At the parish level, Ennis said staff and parishioners can reduce energy costs and create “care teams” to raise awareness.
Deacon Arturo Monterrubio and his wife Esperanza of St. Paul the Apostle in Nassau Bay were eager to take what they had learned and raise awareness in their Spanish-speaking church community about the desperate need to fight climate change and change habits. “This is an opportunity to make clear the message from the pope’s Laudato Si’ — read it, practice it, and respond to it,” Deacon Monterrubio said….
——————–
Steven M got theory right but the wrong address:
a. they misrepresent the science
b. they engage in personal attacks
c their arguments are all over the map and inconsistent
d. they misunderstand the difference between analogies and argument
e. they keep trying to define science as something its not
f. they claim proof from a field –science– that by design only offers probabilities
Importantly, did he remember to pass the collection plate?
So much climate change cluelessness in one place.
The Human-caused Climate Change propaganda/lies have been enormously successful. It has fooled people across all walks of life.
Michael Mann must be real proud of himself. Look at all the people you have duped, Michael, with your distorted temperature record. One of these days they will realize they have been duped, Michael. About the time the lights go out.
The masses that bought into the propaganda will never realize they’ve been duped. It’s evolved into a ‘mass formation psychosis’. There are numerous examples of this phenomenon in recent history.
Population Bomb still sells.
Now, more than ever, one has to read between the lines as a matter of course.
’We fundamentally have to transform our economy in ways that are unimaginable to people who are over 40,’ “
In truth that should read ’We [firmly believe that we] fundamentally have to transform our economy in ways that are unimaginable to people who are over 40,’”. Simply because it is no more than a credo; without any real tangible evidence.
“Now is the Time to Act to Protect the Planet, Advocates Say.” Doubtless using an integrated, monitored, time-phase projection – lingo bingo, word salad.
An advocate is merely someone who [believes in] a particular action, plan or policy and recommends it publicly. Many of these advocates could be more accurately described as activists; and an activist works to bring about political or social changes by campaigning in public or working for an organisation.
“a Catholic climate educator” I’ve long suspected that Christianity now serves two gods – one waxing and one waning.
“preventative maintenance” Or maintenance as it used to be called.
Everything goes through the word salad dressing machine.
In other news, a new salvo in the gas cooker war…
Michael Mosley – journalist, physician, producer and TV presenter. He’s a media star with the Beeb and the papers etc who dishes out dietary and exercise based advice. Based on ‘the science’, don’t you know! And now?
“Dr Michael Mosley issues warning to anyone using a gas hob cooker
Gas hobs could be causing health issues in millions of homes
…
According to research by Nature, the world’s leading science journal, 3.2m people worldwide are killed by indoor pollution.
Writing in the Daily Mail, Dr Mosley, who is usually known for his weight loss advice, warned: “There has been a lot of research — and concern — about the quality of the air outdoors. But it’s increasingly clear that we’re also suffering the impact of the poor quality air in our homes.”
https://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/news/uk-world-news/dr-michael-mosley-issues-warning-26316067
Mosley and Nature… It’s a double appeal to authority.
“a Catholic climate educator” I’ve long suspected that Christianity now serves two gods – one waxing and one waning.
Some do, and always have. From the beginning, the New Testament Epistles were laced with warnings against those who would infiltrate and mislead. God’s Word informed throughout history and today that many from WITHIN the church would seek to lead many astray, as we see in this Roman Catholic conference.
Charitably, the pope is a mental midget, too stupid to understand the harm he is doing, and therefore not morally culpable. After all, he doesn’t even seem to have a solid grasp on Catholic theology, let alone atmospheric physics.
I’ll hold off mentioning my less charitable hypotheses.
My understanding is that there are three types of “maintenance” (though it is always possible that I am wrong, and I am always open to polite correction).
1) “Preventive maintenance”, e.g. regularly checking oil levels in an ICE engine using a dipstick and “topping it up” as required.
2) “Percussive maintenance”, i.e. when something stops working hit it until it starts working again. This can range from “a tap with a finger” to “a roundhouse swing with a sledgehammer”.
NB : You pay high prices for “expert technicians” because they know, after years of practical experience, exactly how hard (and where, and at what angle) to hit the thing to get it “working” again.
3) “Break and replace maintenance”, e.g. most people’s light-bulbs in their homes.
NB : This approach is often the correct one to use, but is too often extended to areas / machines where it isn’t.
Use of term “light-bulbs” implies over-40-ness.
How terribly sad to read of well meaning sincere people so deceived by a partial reading of the facts about our world. Read the IPCC reports, the bible for climate change advocates, and you will find much less certainty about future weather patterns. Read the weather records and you will find noting special about now – fewer wild fires and fewer hurricanes. Look at the climate models and realise they have all been wrong in the past – over-estimating the deleterious changes in our climate.
Care for the poor? Wrong. The opposite is true – condemn the poorest to keep heating and cooking using wood, and suffering the illnesses as a result – because we, in our great wisdom, decided they must not have oil products and reliable electricity.
In 30 years, the world will be amazed at our naivety in buying this stuff. And our selfishness in considering oursleves before the “third world”!
California freezing is caused by ‘global overheating’ is the latest mantra.
Strongest snowstorm in years’ leaves Californians frozen
… And while more research is required to determine the role of the climate crisis in setting the stage this storm, it does align with models that show an increase in extreme weather.
However, in my view this short weather episode is caused by one of the nature’s fundamental events as predicted well in advance and explained in this and subsequent comments.
https://wattsupwiththat.com/2023/02/18/no-nbc-news-giving-the-ocean-antacids-will-not-help-curb-climate-change/#comment-3682817
Correct science by looking at precursors should be able (as was in this case) to give a degree of accurate prediction.
“a degree of accurate prediction.”
Surf’s up….
“more research is required”
Always
to amplify what you said visit Tony Heller’s – My Gift to Climate Alarmists -and a Swedish NGO reports that every year 4 million people die because they don’t have access to fossil fuels and cook & heat with burning parasite infected dung
Years ago, I had an extended email debate with Chris Tomlinson on human-caused climate change. He is clueless, doesn’t understand how science works, and thinks only in cherry-picked anecdotes. He is the most closed-minded journalist I’ve ever met.
After the email exchange I canceled my print subscription to the paper.
Not long afterward, the Houston Chronicle ask me to participate in a panel discussion of readers and former readers, I was still so disgusted with the exchange, I said no. This was even though I was still working at the time and the Chronicle building was just a short walk from my office.
Tomlinson is an example of everything that is wrong with journalism today. When you close your mind to evidence and new ideas, you are no longer qualified to be a journalist.
“the most closed-minded journalist”
What I call an… “hacktivist”.
Journalism in main stream media has evolved into being government paid propaganda, and the government has been captured by the left.
don’t you love it when alarmists try to discredit any one against their religion by saying that you are not a scientists but they are on board with Chris – a so called Business Reporter – what are his scientific degrees in climateology?
Tea leaves and Tarot?
Reading tea leaves and Tarot cards takes SKILL, something of which that @sshat has none.
“degrees in climateology“
Can we start with physics and chemistry, please? [& geology, geography, math]
And right there is why I have no affinity for religion as a guide to affordable sustainable living.
The head of the Catholic church lives in a palace. The vast majority of its followers do not enjoy such benefits of their faith.
I believe the current Pope decided to NOT live in THE palace but instead lives in a small apartment elsewhere in the Vatican.
Which days of the week does he follow Yahweh and which days Gaia?
I think he spends most days following Karl Marx. 🙂
A “small apartment” is fitting to his contribution to the welfare of his denomination.
Climate Calvinism.
Praise be the windmills
Chris is a prpud member of Lenin’s “Useful Idiot” Brigade
We are seeing the gradual change to Marxism as Marx described it and not the violent revolution of Lenin/Stalin, Mao, Pol Pot, and Castro. The end result will be the same. Everyone will be equal: equally poor and equally downtrodden by the Bureaucratic Hegemony of the Communist State.
Marx was all for violent revolution.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Revolutionary_terror
You need to read your own reference:
“Except for a brief period in 1848 and within the Tsarist milieu, Marx did not advocate revolutionary terror,[12] feeling it would be counterproductive.[11] Communist leaders used the idea that terror could serve as the force which Marx said was the “midwife of revolution”[13] and after World War I communist groups continued to use it in attempts to overthrow governments.[11] For Mao Zedong, terrorism was an acceptable tool.” (bolding mine, tpg)
It was Lenin and Stalin that did not want to wait for capitalism to self-destruct, not Marx.
Maybe as Marx got older he disliked the idea of terror- but any revolution is going to result in terror- and he never renounced revolution- so it’s implicit.
That is not the way Marx saw the revolution.
“Faced with this, Babeuf and his followers planned an insurrection in which they would seize power, constitute themselves as the ‘Insurrectionary Committee of Public Safety’, crush all opposition and — only then — introduce democracy. It was this method of conspiracy and coup d’etat which became the standard technique for 19th-century insurrectionaries such as Blanqui and which formed the inspiration for their innumerable secret societies and abortive rebellions.
From the start, Marx and Engels were scathing about this concept of revolution. For them it was self-evident that “the emancipation of the working class must be the act of the working class itself” and that, in any case, “revolutions are not made intentionally and arbitrarily” as the plotters imagined.”
———————————————
Marx saw the proletariat taking over the economy as capitalism foundered.
“In proportion, as the proletariat absorbs socialistic and communistic elements, will the revolution diminish in bloodshed, revenge, and savagery.” (Condition of the Working Class in England, 1845).”
go here: https://digitalshowcase.lynchburg.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1159&context=agora
I think you are confusing Engels and Lenin with Marx. it was Lenin and Engels who were pretty adamant about violent revolution being needed (and later Stalin), not Marx.
No, I think he’s got it backwards. It’s those of us over 40 who have known people who lived during the first half of the 20th century and have studied history who understand the implications of this “transformation” he speaks of. It’s the generation that has lived its whole life during an era where living memory has only known unprecedented wealth and comfort that doesn’t know what it’s in for.
Nice. +50
Given I remember life in far northwestern Kansas with no indoor plumbing, outhouses, no electricity, telephone, or TV, I think you have it right John. When we finally got a phone, our phone number was 26. Long distance required asking Ethel for a line and giving her the phone number. Anyone and everyone with a phone could listen in on any call, and often did.
One ringy-dingy.. two ringy-dingies..
Where I was, party lines ended with a letter, such as 143W.
Higher income neighbors just had a number, such as 256.
Both true numbers at that time.
Ah yes a two holer in the winter. My sister never understood how I beat her in running in the summer but lost races to outhouse in winter.
Handcrank cream separater on farm and handcrank phones at farm next door. Like the one attached.
Remember outdoor galvanized bathtubs? We brought them into the house in winter for obvious reasons. These alarmists have a lot to learn about life without reliable energy.
Andy, Northcentral Kansas here. We had windpower back then. A windmill attached to the house was used to pump water in to a cistern under the house. Then a handpump to lift it in to the kitchen, where the crank phone resided on a wall. CCC outhouse. Cookshed with oil and wood options. 35 gal barrel on one of the outbuildings for heating shower water with the shower directly below. Eventually, we got REI and started to upgrade, but moved to town before it was finished.
Mason,
Similar story here. We moved to modernity when I was about 11. When I was very young all my relatives were farmers, now they’ve all sold their land and moved into town. You can’t make the sort of income that we expect these days from a small family farm.
I posted at 9:01 before reading John the Econ comment.
Great minds, and all that! 😁
It’s below freezing outside, yet I am comfortably asleep in my home. A half-hour before I wake, a computer-controlled thermostat has turned on a HVAC unit that raises the temperature of the house to a comfortable level. After waking up, I simply flip a switch and there is light. I then go to a room where I can relieve my body of accumulated waste. I push a lever, and that waste almost magically goes away to be processed in a sanitary manner elsewhere. I then turn a knob, and soon fresh and comfortably hot water comes out of a head that allows me to cleanse my body. The whole process for all the above was mere minutes with no meaningful physical toil on my part.
I go to another room in my home and retrieve fresh food stored and preserved in a refrigerated environment. I put that food in an another appliance, push a button, an a few minutes later I have a hot meal. Again, mere minutes with no meaningful physical toil on my part. I’m now ready for the rest of my day.
Barely over a century ago, every step of what I just described would seem like a miracle to most Americas, much less the rest of the world. And yet, it’s an experience now shared by almost all Americans, and a large percentage of the rest of the world, made possible by cheap, reliable electricity.
For at least 99% of Americans today, living memory of live without the above no longer exists. Most take it for granted. They will miss it when it’s gone.
You just pretty much nailed it. It’s always amusing when you take new Boy Scouts on their first campout and they have to use a “cat hole” or, if lucky, an outhouse! I’ve seen some go for three days without a BM.
Then they have to carry water from a lake or pond and purify it before drinking and cooking with it! Another wakeup call. Oh, and no automatic dishwasher. They have to be taught to get *all* the old food off their plates or it will make them sick sooner or later.
And Pete forbid they should have to wash their clothes out if they get muddy when it rains. Especially if they have to do it without benefit of a hose!
Then baiting a hook or cleaning a fish? There are always some that just refuse to do it – but they’ll gladly eat the fish is someone else catches it and prepares it!
“For at least 99% of Americans today, living memory of live without the above no longer exists. Most take it for granted. They will miss it when it’s gone.”
How right you are. Many of them will just give up and die when its gone.
The better part of 4 decades ago, I used to help lead teenagers for a week-long trek into the wilderness. For most, it was the first time in their lives that they had to master any degree of self-sufficiency. It was a wonderful experience. Most of the kids not only survived but concluded the week with a new sense of pride and achievement.
I couldn’t imagine doing the same thing today with a generation of kids that literally couldn’t survive without the 24/7 electronic stimulation that they’ve been absorbed into since before sentience.
Reminds me of this.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDNrseBCscg&w=618&h=340%5D
Sensationalist now with finger wagging and demonizing comes to a business section near you.
I always like the art work at the top of the articles but I wish the artist was always mentioned. Regarding the one at the top here- that building could be improved with a wind turbine at the top. 🙂
“Deanna Ennis, director of construction and preventative maintenance for the Archdiocese, said she would like to see more urgency for combatting climate change from more priests and Church leaders. “We don’t hear about these issues in the pews — that’s pretty stunning,” Ennis said. “We have to learn, to educate, to act. We have to be willing to change.”
*************
Once again, I feel the need to quote from the Good Book itself to warn the faithful of the road that they are going down here:
“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous wolves. — Matthew 7:15
“Beloved, do not believe every spirit, but test the spirits to see whether they are from God, for many false prophets have gone out into the world” — 1 John 4:1
“But false prophets also arose among the people, just as there will be false teachers among you, who will secretly bring in destructive heresies, even denying the Master who bought them, bringing upon themselves swift destruction.” — 2 Peter 2:1
*******************
When the climate alarmist narrative becomes religious in nature, it becomes all too easy for those of religious faith to embrace it. The climate narrative in its current form fits in very nicely with the Christian faith, especially when the Pope himself is on board with it. The idea that the CAGW narrative is supposed to be scientific in nature becomes totally lost on them.
The line that should separate science and religion is now becoming blurred, if it still exists at all. And the politicization of the CAGW narrative makes it all the worse.
Wonderful quotes.
“When the climate alarmist narrative becomes religious in nature, it becomes all too easy for those of religious faith to embrace it.”
Yep!
Galatians 1:1 Paul, an Apostle sent not from men nor by any man, but by Jesus Christ and by God the Father, who raised Jesus from among the dead–
2 and all the brethren who are with me: To the Churches of Galatia.
3 May grace and peace be granted to you from God the Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ,
4 who gave Himself to suffer for our sins in order to rescue us from the present wicked age in accordance with the will of our God and Father.
5 To Him be the glory to the Ages of the Ages! Amen.
6 I marvel that you are so readily leaving Him who called you by the grace of Christ, and are adhering to a different Good News.
7 For other “Good News” there is none; but there are some persons who are troubling you, and are seeking to distort the Good News concerning Christ.
8 But if even we or an angel from Heaven should bring you a Good News different from that which we have already brought you, let him be accursed.
9 What I have just said I repeat–if any one is preaching to you a Good News other than that which you originally received, let him be accursed. (Gal 1:1-9 WNT)
“… the biggest obstacles to addressing climate change are apathy and a lack of urgency.” I don’t care and any climate change is far into the future.
” … in ways that are unimaginable to people who are over 40 “
Actually, those over 40 have seen some hard times and the more over 40 one is the more hard times one has seen.
For example, in various degrees, we have lived without warm (or cool) living spaces, autos without power windows and power steering, medical imagining technology, ‘smart’ cell phones, and coffee stands on every corner. A lack of such things is unimaginable to the youngsters this person was speaking to.
We who are over 40 don’t have to imagine it. We saw the Soviets try it and the catastrophe and suffering that they produced. We saw Mao Tse Tung try it and kill close to 100 million of his subjects. We saw Pol Pot try it and murder 25% of the population of Cambodia in just a few months.
The schools stopped teaching history so that they can get young people to imagine something that we saw bring death and destruction, chaos and poverty, and hell to the surface of the earth.
John, a 41-year old today was born in 1982 in the golden age of Ronald Reagan and Margaret Thatcher and most likely doesn’t even remember much about either of them. Even an 81-year old in North America probably still didn’t ever know truly hard times, being as they probably can’t remember much before 1946.
I have lived a blessed life but I’m not so sure it’s going to continue that way.
I think you have to be at least in your 50’s to remember the cold weather of the late 70’s, kind of like today’s.
From the article:”We have to cooperate, innovate and compromise, and most of all, we have to set aside our pride.’”.
Many folks have said various forms of this statement. But they do nothing to show they personally are willing to follow it. Why doesn’t he advocate that the paper he works for shut down. Think of all the energy that would saved. The lessened CO2 emitted.
Yep, it’s crap like this that got me kicked out of my church, not once, not twice but four times. I figured after the fourth time they really didn’t want me. It got so bad even my mother left it, she had been a member for eighty years. Stay away from the ELCA.
Climate Zealots (both within and Church and without) not only take a holier-than-thou attitude, they presume the ability to inerrantly see the future and to mindread the motivation of those who disagree with them.
Now is the time to act to protect the planet, !
Yes, we have to somehow fight harder against the crazy AGW memes and agendas.
We have to fight harder against the destruction of hinterlands with solar panels and wind turbines.
We have to fight for the lives of marine creatures that use sonar for guidance, but ceasing all off-shore wind turbines.
We have to fight harder against the ANTI-CO2 agenda. CO2 is the life gas of the planet, more atmospheric CO2 is needed, not less.
We have to fight against the anti-nitrogen clowns that wish to destroy crop production.
We have to fight against the anti-methane loons, who want to destroy meat production in favour of insects.
Tomlinson threw out the age grenade, which was (wisely?) ignored. Older people have the money, they are wonderful and perfect and deserving of adulation. Local economy is given a degree of respect that makes most sense to readers over 30… the ones who matter?